Mane assures homes for quake-hit by July

MUMBAI, March 30: Rehabilitation of the September 1993 Latur earthquake victims, which was about 90 per cent complete till date, is schedule...

MUMBAI, March 30: Rehabilitation of the September 1993 Latur earthquake victims, which was about 90 per cent complete till date, is scheduled to be completed by the end of June, this year, informed Minister of State for Urban Development, Ravindra Mane in the State Legislative Council this afternoon.

Mane was replying to queries put forth by Vyamkappa Patki, Arvind Sawant, Neela Desai, Hussain Dalwai and other members in the question hour session. The members wanted to know what steps the State Government had taken to meet the June 30, 1998 deadline given by the World Bank before giving financial aids for rehabilitation of earthquake victims.

Mane said that the total estimated expenditure for rehabilitation was a whopping Rs 11,821 crore, out of which Rs 10,086 crore were already utilised by the State government. While Rs 84 crore of this amount were collected by the social organisations and other means, the rest came from the World Bank, Mane added.

The minister informed that the 52 quake-affectedvillages in Latur and Osmanabad were divided in three categories on the basis of destruction and money was distributed among the people accordingly. Of the 2,11,721 houses to be rebuilt, 1,92,378 were complete while construction of 3,729 schools was also over, Mane said.

Commission report on Gowari deaths: The Justice Dani commission, conducting an inquiry into the death of over hundred Gowari tribals in Nagpur on November 23, 1994 has begun preparing its report, informed deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde in a written reply to queries raised by Sohail Lokhandwala and others in the Assembly, this afternoon. The minister said that the Commission had recently concluded recording evidence and testimonies in connection with the tragic incident. The Gowaris, mostly women and children, had died in a stampede after police resorted to lathi charge. The Gowaris had taken out a morcha to the Council Hall during the Legislature8217;s winter session demanding inclusion of the tribe in the Scheduled Tribes list.

Curb oninfiltration of Bangladeshi nationals: The State Government is preparing a comprehensive plan to curb infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals in the State, especially in Mumbai, said deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde in a written reply to a question by Shrikant Sarmalkar and others.

He said that the State Director General of Police, Arvind Inamdar, had been directed to prepare the plan and submit it to the government. Munde said about 806 Bangladeshis, illegally residents in Mumbai and 53 from other parts of the State, totalling to 859, were deported between January 1, 1997 to December 31, 1997. He said this year, 183 Bangladeshis were detected for staying illegally by February 28, 1998.